Symbiosis
by Perhapsormaybe
Summary: A cave in leads to forced team ups and some relationship discussions, but that's only the start. Dashi's Ghost is coming after great evil, but the eradication of evil also threatens good when it throws off the delicate balance. Some Jack/Chase and Rai/Kim. Slightly rated up, to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **I have never written for Jack or Chase Young before, much less them together. But I've been swayed by some excellent fanfiction and fanart into believing it is a viable couple and I was itching to try my hand at them together as well as some Raimundo/Kimiko. This is what you're stuck with. My thanks for you taking your time to read. This will probably be a two shot since I don't have time to finish it tonight and am still making plans for it.

_Set 2 years after the original series finale_

Apprentice. Jack had been so excited when it happened that he had composed a whole new song about that to be his new evil theme song (titled "Evil Mastermind's Apprentice" – Jack wasn't really one for subtlety). Of course, Chase never let him play it. He had listened patiently to the song once but had not commented on it. Jack didn't let that get to him. He was now the acolyte of none other than Chase Young, one of the most – no, the _most-_ brilliant mind in the world. Jack wore the title of student like a badge since he'd been bestowed the honor months ago.

Chase really had just given the title in the hopes that the grueling training might make his little fanboy give up the chase. It hadn't worked. The harder Chase pushed him, the more determined Jack had become. The evil teenaged genius was still weaker than the Xiaolin Dragons, but he was getting faster, sleeker and his agile mind combined with these improvements meant he was becoming a genuine threat in showdowns. Not that Chase cared for the trinkets. It was merely another way to test Jack.

The evil duo walked – Chase very calmly, purposefully…Jack tripping every few feet from refusing to take his eyes off Chase rather than watching the terrain – through a cave together. The walls were alight with glowing mushrooms (Jack stopped to take a sample of one of these, wondering if their luminescence could be duplicated for his own purposes later), and the dankness of the cave lead to a horrific stench that left Jack holding his nose. If Chase was bothered by it or if he even noticed it, he showed no signs. The cave had numerous chambers, most of them smaller corridors. They had already gone through several of the other passages. At the very end of the corridor they were currently in, it widened into a much larger cave. In the center on a pedestal lay the shen gong wu they were seeking, a golden phoenix statue that appeared to be breathing fire.

"Well?" Chase came to a halt and Jack slammed into him.

Jack glanced around, his ruby seeming to spark when he came to the realization of what Chase was trying to tell him. "Come on out, Xiaolin Losers! We can smell you from here!"

"Classy, Jack," Kimiko dropped from the roof of the corridor behind them, rolling her eyes. "But how did you know we were here?"

"Chase tipped him off," Raimundo appeared at her side, stepping out of the shadows. "Only explanation."

"Hey, I could have sensed you!" Jack insisted, crossing his arms.

"Whatever," Raimundo scoffed. "Are we going to talk, fight or are you just going to go and let us get the wu?"

Chase stepped back as his apprentice stepped forward. Jack assumed a fighting stance, one arm extended towards the Shoku Warrior as the other pointed in Kimiko's direction. "Never can make it easy for himself, can he?" Kimiko sighed.

"It would be wise to take notice of what is missing," Chase offered the hint with such a calm manner that he may have been stating that the sky was blue or that Wuya was untrustworthy.

"Right! Where's the cheesehead and the cowboy?" Jack remained in his stance, but his eyes darted around, expecting an ambush. Raimundo and Kimiko exchanged glances. "Chase! There's another wu gone active!"

"How'd he know that?" Kimiko asked.

"C'mon. It wasn't that hard," Jack said impatiently, "If there are only two of you here, it means that the others are after something else. You Good Guys don't have the guts to sneak up on –"he stopped in the middle as Kimiko landed a flying kick right in his stomach.

"We may not sneak up on you, Jack," Kimiko's smile was almost devilish, "But that doesn't mean we have to wait for you to finish talking."

"Typhoon Boom -Wind!" The wind Raimundo controlled pushed Jack against the wall of the cave with a loud thud.

"Hey! It's an old cave, you might not want to do that!" Jack shook it off as he forced himself to his feet. "Does anyone else hear rumbling?" No one answered him. He was almost certain he had felt the wall shake, but he couldn't be positive it wasn't the effect of being shoved against the wall by the tornado Raimundo had conjured.

Forcing himself to gain composure, Jack flipped backwards until he was even with Kimiko and roundhouse kicked her into a nearby stalactite. It broke off the roof and fell to the ground, shattering to pieces on impact with the cavern's floor. Kimiko brushed the dust off and picked a shard of the now destroyed rock formation out of her monk's robes before she took a run at Jack and punched him hard enough in the stomach to send him once more towards the wall.

This time they _all _felt the rumble and looked up to the cave's ceiling. The stalactites were shaking ominously, the noise growing louder as they seemed to clink together.

"We need to get out. Kimiko, I'll get the shen gong wu, you meet me outside!" Raimundo called as he made a run for the statue.

"No, you dummy, you'll get yourself killed! We don't know when those things will fall!" Kimiko pointed out.

"Maybe you guy shouldn't be yelling WHEN UNSTABLE THINGS THAT COULD EASILY KILL US ARE SHAKING INCHES ABOVE OUR HEADS!" Jack yelled before slapping his own hand over his mouth. His eyes widened and Kimiko slapped him on the back of the head. Raimundo face palmed, and Jack winced when he noticed that Chase looked displeased - well, more displeased than usual.

It was about two seconds later when the spikes started to fall. Kimiko and Jack pressed themselves up against a wall, neither able to see their partner, who were doing the same thing on the other side of the cavern room. Another low rumble and rocks added to the pile, the whole cave seeming to shake as the rubble formed a wall between the two pairs.

"Is it over yet?" Jack asked, his eyes were closed tight, refusing to look around.

"I-I think so," Kimiko answered, making her way to the rock pile. "Rai? Raimundo, can you hear me?" she started digging through the pile, but Jack grabbed her hand and forced her back. "What's the big idea?"

He pointed up at the few stalactites still remaining on the ceiling. "I don't know about you, but I'm not in a big hurry to get crushed today. If we try to dig through, we may just cause a rock slide."

Kimiko sighed. "I guess we'll have to go back and try to find an exit. Hopefully Raimundo will do the same."

"We?"

"I don't exactly want to work with you either, Spicer, but what choice do we have? Any chance you can call your Jackbots for help?"

Jack shook his head. "Chase forbade me from using them. Says they're a crutch and I need to learn to get by without them." He left out the part where Chase had called the robots 'little more than scrap metal'. That barb still stung.

"Well…then we better get going. I don't want to be here all day and I certainly don't want Raimundo and Chase to have to be alone together for too long."

"All right, fine. We do a team up this once, but once we get out of here-"

"I go back to kicking your butt, as usual," Kimiko rolled her eyes as she started back the way they'd come. "Let's just get to Chase and Raimundo before they kill each other."


	2. Partnerships

**Author's note: **Thank you to ** 1****st**** Dudette **for your review. And I promise that Jack's sudden back flip abilities will be explained this chapter. Thanks also to those of you who have added this story to your favorites and/or alerts.

**Update: **So the summary originally stated this was just a short story and I said it was going to be a two parter in the first chapter. I lied. Turns out Chase had something up his sleeve, as did others, and I realized that I have no idea how long this story is. It'll be finished when it's done, and in the mean time I get to have fun writing lines for Jack Spicer.

"All right," Kimiko surveyed the cave and tapped a finger to her lips as she thought aloud, "How exactly do we get out of here?"

"Can you light a fire? A _small_ fire," Jack elaborated. Kimiko snapped her fingers together, and they seemed to spark with the friction. A small flame danced in the palm of her hand.

"What's this for, Jack, need a night light?"

"Smoke rises if there's no draft. We can follow the smoke to find an opening," he smirked when he saw the confusion on Kimiko's face. "I'm an evil _genius_, remember?"

"Sometimes it's pretty easy to forget," Kimiko snorted. "Guess this means I'm leading the way." She held out her hand in front of her, pausing after a few steps to see if she could see the smoke rising. So far, nothing had happened. The flame flickered, but the smoke emanating from it did not seem to be moving very high.

"We'll keep walking until it starts rising, and check it every couple of feet."

"Something's been bugging me,"

"What, the cave?"

"No. Look, we're stuck with each other, so nothing wrong with making some conversation. What are you doing with Chase, anyway?"

"What do you mean? He's the Evil Prince of Darkness!"

"That's my point," Kimiko paused to check the fire. The smoke seemed to rise higher now, but not enough for it appear for their escape method to be close by. "I've seen that guy turn you into a monkey, rig a door to fall on you and try to feed you to his cats. Why work with him?"

"C'mon, he hasn't tried any of that in," Jack paused to think, "I don't know, a couple of weeks."

"So you'd rather put up with that than work on your own?"

"I'm his official apprentice now-"

"Yeah, he's given you that title before."

"He was lying that time," Jack shook his head furiously in response to the question Kimiko had not yet asked, "And _no_, he isn't lying this time. I checked the Mind Reader Conch!" He slapped his hand over his mouth.

"I thought Chase said you couldn't use Wu? And I haven't seen you with any…" Kimiko paused again and after checking the fire, she turned back to Jack.

A more devious villain would not have shown her, but Jack was too proud of his accomplishment not to let _someone _admire his brilliance. Kimiko covered her face and looked away when Jack removed his belt. "Oh, c'mon, that's not what I'm doing!" He pressed a button on the side of the belt, revealing a hidden chamber inside of it. Inside were the Mind Reader Conch and Mantis Flip Coin, both in miniaturized form. "I used the Changing Chopsticks to make 'em tiny. But then I lost that Wu to you guys a few weeks ago, so I wasn't able to change their size back."

"So you've been using the Flip Coin in battle without us realizing it!"

"And the Conch to make sure Chase isn't planning on kicking me out. I usually check his mind when I wake up and then right before I go to bed. …It helps me sleep."

Kimiko rolled her eyes. "Sheesh, Spicer, why don't you just marry Chase?"

"Maybe I will!" he called after her. "Wait…that didn't come out right!"

* * *

Raimundo wasn't sure how much time had passed. It felt like he and Chase had been staring each other down for an eternity since the cave in had occurred. "Well? Are you not going to attempt to dig your friend out?" Chase crossed his arms and leaned against the nearest wall of the cave. Raimundo finally looked away from the fallen warrior and over to the pile of rocks.

"More likely I'll cause a worse cave in, and if she's digging from the other side and I start, that might mean a rock slide on both sides."

"Very wise. It would seem," Chase indicated the path to his right, "That there is only one direction for us to go. At least until we get out of the cave, perhaps we should work together."

Raimundo's eyes narrowed to slits. "I don't make deals with the Heylin side."

"Anymore."

"That was a long time ago, and I'm over it," The Brazilian monk looked around, hoping to find another way for him to go.

"You're not worried about Kimiko?"

"Why? She's trapped with Spicer. She can take him."

"She could have been hurt in the landslide. Or…" Chase trailed off.

"Or?"

"It is true that my apprentice is still not as powerful as you monks. But as my apprentice, he is entitled to my protection. Should she hurt him, I would be forced to seek action against her."

"You're protecting _Jack_? You can't stand him any more than we can!"

"We can stand here all day debating, or you can get to your girlfriend before I do. Though I assure you that it will be faster for us to work together."

Raimundo chewed on the inside of his cheek as he debated his options. "Fine, but the first sign of a double cross," he pulled the Blade of the Nebula from his robes, "And you go down hard."

"But of course," Chase smirked. "How is Omi these days? I see so little of him."

"You leave him alone, or you'll be dealing with me," Raimundo hissed.

"He must have been crushed not to be chosen as leader. I was expecting it to be him as well. Though you do seem fairly competent. It is a shame I did not meet you while we were still on the same team. We could have had a great partnership."

"You leave me and my team alone, got it?" Raimundo said through gritted teeth. "No more talking. Let's just find Jack and Kimiko and get out of here."

* * *

"How long are these tunnels?" Kimiko complained, jumping over a spider. Jack shuddered at the sight of the insect.

"No clue. It feels bigger than when we first came in."

"So…" Kimiko's grin was devilish, "What were we talking about? Oh, right. You and Chase."

"There is no 'me and Chase', sister. Just an Evil Master and his Evil Apprentice."

"You guys so overuse the word 'evil'."

"Still. Nothing going on."

"Does he know you named your teddy bear after him?"

"How did you know that?" Jack looked horrified and panic stricken. Kimiko chuckled darkly.

"Mind Reader Conch, from a few months back. I saw you kiss it."

"He had a boo boo!"

"Whatever."

"Fine. What's going on with you and Raimundo, then?" Jack crossed his arms and watched the fire in Kimiko's hands as he waited for her to respond.

"Raimundo? He's just a friend."

"Right. Denial! Ever notice that lately you two pair off for each hunt and ditch the cowboy and cue ball?"

"He's just choosing teams based on what works," Kimiko shrugged and held the flames up higher above her head, hoping that the flickering would hide her blush.

"Well, then, there's as much going on between Chase and me as there is you and Raimundo."

"Wait, I thought you thought that there _is_ –" Kimiko stopped suddenly in her tracks and Jack slammed into her. They fell into a heap on the floor, and she pushed him off forcefully, still managing to keep the fire going the whole time. "Look!" The smoke was rising towards a hole a few feet above their heads. "I can see daylight! We can get out, and figure out how to get Rai and Chase out as well!"

"No need, though your concern is appreciated, young monk," Chase and Raimundo emerged from a nearby passageway.

"Are you okay?" Raimundo and Kimiko asked each other in unison. Both nodded.

"Looks like that wu is lost, at least for now," Raimundo rubbed the back of his neck.

"Then we'll call this one a draw," Chase said with a shrug. "Come, Jack." Raimundo and Kimiko waited for the evil pair to exit together before both released a deep sigh.

"Did you figure out what Chase wants with Jack?" Raimundo asked after he was certain the Prince of Darkness and his Apprentice were gone.

"Still no idea. Got a little off topic, I guess…" Kimiko trailed off. "But Jack is at least convinced that Chase genuinely wants him on his side. He even used the Mind Reader Conch to confirm it."

"He could be lying…"

"Not judging by the way he sounded. And Chase can be underhanded, but it's not like him to outright lie."

"Yeah, and he actually wanted to protect Spicer from you," Raimundo rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Wish I knew what they were thinking. Oh well, back to the temple for us, I guess. Would be nice to have their plan figured out or at least the wu…"

"We'll get it next time."

* * *

"How did you know they were going to separate us?" Jack asked eagerly when he and Chase arrived back in Chase's domain.

"They knew they would not get the information from me. But you are always with me lately, so the separation would have to be forced. Thus why they did not use their Wudai powers when they attacked you. They wanted enough power for a cave in, but not so much that one of them might get hurt. What did you tell her?"

"Nothing," Jack coughed awkwardly into his hands. "Partially because I still don't know what we're doing."

"You are simply my Apprentice. All is genuinely as it appears. But we needed you to look cooperative because we will need the monks' help soon. They will be more willing if they think that you were agreeable."

"Help? With what? Is this like the evil 'help', where we say we need help and then double cross at the last second?"

"No. We will genuinely need their help. Dashi's ghost is coming…"


	3. The Return

**Author's Note: **I'm still not sure where this story came from…I mean, I started this to write fluff and then a series story appears out of nowhere to take over. Thank you for the reviews, story alerts and favorites. Don't mind me, just hanging some lampshades…

After his and Kimiko's failure to retrieve the Shen Gong Wu, Raimundo had ended up pushing himself and the other monks a little too hard in that night's training. The sun and moon were even with each other in the sky when he had finally agreed it was time to stop. All four of the Dragons had made their way to the mats that served as their beds and passed out. Master Fung had opted not to wake them this morning to allow their bodies time to heal. Unfortunately, the universe had other plans.

The earthquake came first. It tore through the temple, causing a crack in the outer wall and waking Omi, Kimiko and Clay up immediately. Raimundo had slept through the first wave, but not through his panicked friends forcing him up (and then Omi's use of his ice power to ensure Raimundo stayed awake). While they were still trying to repair the damage from the second earthquake, lightning began to light up the sky though there were no signs of rain or thunder. In fact, the sun continued to shine.

"Did someone break the weather?" Raimundo complained as he slathered some more wet concrete into the hole in the wall. Kimiko used her fire to quicken the drying.

"Not broken, kids," Dojo had come to supervise their handy work. "This is a sign. Something big is coming."

"Lemme guess.." Kimiko started.

"One thousand years of darkness," all four Xiaolin Dragons said in unison in a bored tone.

"And of course, something will have started fifteen hundred years ago," Raimundo threw his hands up in irritation.

"Not necessarily." Dojo surveyed the teenagers' expressions and smirked. "What? Not predictable enough for you? If this is the omen…well, if these are the _omens_, I should say, for what I think they are, it might not be all bad."

* * *

"Wait, wait, wait," Jack held up his hands as though asking Chase to pause, "Dashi's ghost is coming? Dashi…the puzzle box guy?"

"Indeed. He was the one who made the puzzle box to imprison Wuya. Both times. He fought alongside myself and Master Monk Guan fifteen hundred years ago."

"So, wait…how come Guan's still alive? I get _you_, since you drank the Lao Mang Long Soup, but –"

"Now is not the time for that."

"Okay, fine, but we'll come back to it. What's so bad about Dashi coming back? I mean, yeah, he's on the other team, but he's just going to be a ghost. Wuya couldn't do much in her ghost form. …Other than feel _really_ gross when she passed through you."

"Dashi will be capable of much more than that," one of Chase's lions brought him a scroll. He patted the beast on his head as a way of thanks before taking it from the large cat's mouth. He studied it momentarily. "There seems to be no way for us to stop him. We will have to ask for help from the monks, as I suspected."

"Just what is it that Dashi's going to do that makes you want to work with those losers?"

"Because, my young Apprentice," Chase finally looked Jack in the eye. "Dashi comes to destroy the greatest evils he can find and restore good to the world."

* * *

At the same time Chase Young had been explaining Dashi's ghost's significance to Jack, Dojo had been explaining the same to the Dragons.

"So, then, this is a good thing," Omi said, rubbing his eyes. "Though I am most eager to fight alongside Grand Master Dashi again, I do not see why we cannot first take a nap. Would that not help us better assist him?"

"Yeah, dude," Raimundo shook his head as he once more read the passage in The Big Book of Omens, "This doesn't seem like an emergency to me. He's bringing good back. Sounds more like we could take a vacation."

"All is not always how it seems, Young Monks," Master Fung had arrived with no warning, causing all of the monks (save Omi, whose Tiger Instincts had alerted him to the master's arrival) and Dojo to jump. "Remember, there must be a balance in the world for harmony to thrive. Even if it is good that tips the scales, it could have disastrous consequences."

"Okay, yeah, I don't get this," Kimiko shrugged. "I mean, he's coming to help us. What's the harm in there being more good in the world and less evil?"

"I'm with Kimiko," Raimundo threw in. Clay nodded.

It was Omi who shook his head. "No, my friends. Balance must be maintained. If we throw off the balance, set up a world with no evil…it sets the stage for evil to eventually be the one to tip the balance. I too was once arrogant enough to believe I should attempt to conquer _all_ evil, but all that is behind my buttocks."

"Okay, first off," Raimundo interjected, "You mean that's 'behind you'. Second, Chase tricked you when you could have destroyed all evil by using the Reversing Mirror to make you see how to destroy good instead… are you saying if Omi had done that and good had been destroyed, it would have been bad for the Heylin side?"

"Eventually," Master Fung nodded, "Which is part of the reason I believe Chase Young revealed his deception to Omi."

"I had thought it was because there was still some good in him," Omi said sadly. Kimiko put a hand on his shoulder supportively.

"That may have still also been a motivation, Omi," The older Master added. "Balance must be maintained. That is also a part of your job. I expect Chase to show up asking for assistance once he realizes what is coming."

"Great," Raimundo let out a long breath of air. "Anyone else ever feel like sometimes we run a sort of Bed and Breakfast for the bad guys?"

* * *

"I'm not doing it. I'm evil and I have standards and I'm not doing it," Wuya crossed her arms defiantly. Hannibal Roy Bean merely shrugged.

"If you'd rather fight Dashi by yourself, be my guest. No hair off my head-"

"Like you have any," Wuya snorted. "But you want to ask help from the Xiaolin side? What makes you think they'll even agree?"

"Because they're the good guys. Part of the whole stick, ya see. They _have_ to help, whether they want to or not."

"Oh all right. But only if we snag their wu when we're done using them."

"Well of course! Are we evil or aren't we?"

* * *

"Guys?" Dojo's body began to contort into increasingly unnatural positions. "Ouch! Ouch! …Oh, I think that one popped my back. That feels kind of good, actu-YOUUUWCH!"

"Are you okay, Dojo?" Kimiko kneeled down beside the dragon.

"It's-…it's…"

"Well, take your time getting to the point, why don't you?" The Xiaolin Monks all scrambled to get in formation at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, but as the unknown person stepped – or rather, floated – out of the shadows, all of them were able to recognize Dashi.

"Dashi!" Dojo cried excitedly, attempting to give his old master a hug. He fell through the incorporeal being and onto the floor.

"Afraid I can't give hugs in this form. I can shoot pretty cool amounts of energy, though…"

"Yeah, we'd appreciate it if you didn't do that inside. We just cleaned," Raimundo eyed Dashi carefully. "Omi, you're the only one that's ever met him in person. Is this Dashi?"

Omi circled the ghost a few times. "Hmm…Wudai Neptune Water!" Omi sent a wave of water in Dashi's direction. The Grand Master zapped the incoming wave and it evaporated, leaving only steam behind. "This is him! Great Ghost of Dash…Great _You_! It is you!"

"Well, invite me in, and I'll be able to get down to business," Dashi gave the monks a cheerful smile.

"Ain't it vampires that need to be invited in?" Clay questioned.

Dashi sighed. "Just a formality, kid. I'm coming in whether you want me to or not."


End file.
